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Set 22 – Five New Words For Jan 22

USAGE:
“Media will continue to adulate and fawn before celebrities’ feet, like abject courtiers in an imperial palace.”

2. sere (seer)

MEANING:
noun: An intermediate stage or a series of stages in the ecological succession of a community. Example: forest, forest destroyed by fire, grass, brush, young trees, mature trees.
adjective: dry; withered.

USAGE:
“The duration of an organism’s presence in a sere depends on its ability to persist, even as the environment is changing.”

MEANING:
verb tr. To listen to the sounds made by internal organs (heart, lungs, etc.) to aid in the diagnosis.

USAGE:
“A Chinese official has been jailed for two years for deserting a sick beggar in a neighboring county and causing the man’s death. … In his defence, Chen said he had asked a general practitioner to auscultate him before the man was sent away. The doctor said his heart beat was normal.”